ISTANBUL, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Turkey's main blue chip stock index traded 2% higher on Monday, finding some support after an early fall and a sharp Friday selloff that halted a three-week ride to record highs.
Borsa Istanbul said it had imposed a one-day uptick rule on short sales of BITS 50 stocks in an attempt to slow any fresh selling, and Wall Street bank JPMorgan late last week halted new customer algorithmic orders on lira trades.
Turkey's markets have been in upheaval in recent weeks with the lira currency plunging to record lows in a crisis prompted by a series of rate cuts urged by President Tayyip Erdogan.
As Turks scrambled to protect savings, stocks have jumped due to their relative price discounts in lira terms.
Istanbul's main BIST 100 index hit a record high of 2,406.87 points on Friday. But then it fell off a cliff in a selloff that triggered circuit breakers that temporarily halted trading, and the index closed the week down 8.52%.
In response to the volatility, JPMorgan told customers it would not accept newly created algorithmic orders on lira trades. "Amendments on existing orders will not be accepted and all TRY Algol orders should be cancelled at your earliest convenience," the bank said in a note.
Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun and Nevzat Devranoglu; editing by Jonathan Spicer and Jason Neely
Source: Reuters